New Apple Macs move closer to iPhones and iPads
Apple has launched three new Macs that use its home-grown M1 Apple Silicon chips and Big Sur operating system – a move that brings its computers much closer to iPhones and iPads.
The company says the M1 chips give its new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini up to 3.5 times faster processing, up to six times faster graphics processing and up to 15 times faster machine learning capabilities than the previous Intel-based models. And, on the MacBook Pro laptop, battery life should be twice as long as before.
Apple has been making its own Apple Silicon for more than a decade. “It’s at the heart of iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch – and now we want to bring it to the Mac, so the Mac can take a huge leap forward,” Apple senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji says.
The combination of the M1 chip and Big Sur operating system allows users to use iOS (mobile) apps on their Macs, but 9to5Mac reports that “some major iOS app developers have already chosen not to offer their apps on the Mac App Store to Apple Silicon Mac owners”. These include Google (Gmail, Drive, Maps) and Facebook (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp). We’ll have to see how that develops.
Another result of the switch to the new chips is that your current Intel-based applications will have to run in an emulation mode powered by Rosetta 2 until the developers transition them to the new architecture. The first version of Rosetta was introduced in 2006 when Apple transitioned its Macs from PowerPC chips to Intel ones.
Put simply, there will be another program in between the one you’re working on and the operating system. When we’ve used emulators in the past there has been some lagging and some programs have proved incompatible, but what the case is here we’ll have to wait to find out. Apple’s very upbeat, though – at today’s M1 launch event its SVP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said “some of the most graphically demanding apps actually perform better under Rosetta than they did running natively on previous Macs with integrated graphics”.
Of course, Apple’s own Mac software now runs natively on M1 systems.
How the M1 chip has boosted Apple Mac performance
But … new Macs! Let’s take a look at how the new M1 models’ performance differs from the previous generation. (These are Apple’s own numbers, based on its own tests.)
MacBook Air
When compared to the previous generation, the M1-powered MacBook Air can:
- Export an iMovie web project up to three times faster.
- Integrate Final Cut Pro video 3D effects up to five times faster.
- Also in Final Cut Pro, play back and edit multiple streams of full-quality, 4K ProRes video without dropping a frame.
- Export Lightroom photos up to twice as fast.
- Provide up to 18 hours of battery life.
- Give you video calls that are up to twice as long on a single charge.
13-inch MacBook Pro
When compared to the previous generation, the M1-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro can:
- Create code up to 2.8 times faster in Xcode.
- Render a Final Cut Pro 3D title up to 5.9 times faster.
- Create intricate Unity Editor game scenes up to 3.5 times faster.
- Separate beats, instrumentals and vocal tracks from a recording in real time in djay Pro AI.
Mac mini
When compared to the previous generation, the M1-powered Mac mini can:
- Create Xcode code up to three times faster.
- Get up to four times higher frame rates when playing graphics-intensive games.
- Render complex Final Cut Pro timelines up to six times faster.
- Use up to three times as many real-time music plug-ins in Logic Pro.
Apple MacBook Air (M1) price
RRP $1599
Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1) price
RRP $1999
Apple Mac mini (M1) price
RRP $1099
